majorcrimesdivisionfandomcom-20200216-history
Commercial Crimes Division
The Commercial Crimes Division (CCD) of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), Detective Bureau, is responsible for investigations into frauds, computer crimes, financial crimes, and certain select burglary, theft, auto theft, and robbery crimes, as well as enforcing the rules and regulations governing pawnshops, junk dealers, and any other business handling secondhand merchandise. Organization of CCD Fraud Section The Fraud Section is responsible for investigating auto repair frauds; offers of bribes; consumer fraud violations; Corporate Security Act violations; any crime committed through the use of computer-stored information or sabotage to computer-stored information; and the manufacture, distribution, or wholesaling of pirated sound and video recordings. The Fraud Section is composed of the Auto Fraud Unit, Bunco Unit, Computer Crimes Unit, Elder Persons Estate Unit, Trademark Infringement Crimes Unit, and the White-Collar Crime Unit. Upon the direction of the Chief of Detectives, the Fraud Section shall accept responsibility for investigating the following categories of bunco crimes normally handled by Geographic Area Detective Divisions: complex crimes requiring investigations by investigating officers possessing specialized knowledge, a series of associated crimes occurring in two or more geographic areas, and/or crimes requiring prolonged investigations and/or investigative manpower exceeding geographic division resources. Bunco crimes in the above three categories, which should normally be handled by geographic detectives, including but are not limited to: * business opportunity misrepresentations including apartment houses and motels, punchboards, restaurants, service stations, vending machines, fraudulent gold mines, oil wells, and hidden treasures * embezzlement * extortions by use of nonviolent threats * blackmail * fake solicitors including charities, magazines, photographs, and hosiery * false advertisement * fraud by means of the "pigeon drop" * fraudulent business royalties * fraudulent oil leases * impersonation of an officer * retail sales of pirated sound and video recordings * miscellaneous business buncos, including phony sales and purchases of merchandise, water softeners, television repairs, furniture, and bonds * "Poison-pen" letters * real estate frauds * theft by "borrowing racket", "marriage bunks", coin matching (smacks), miscellaneous bunco schemes, including crooked gambling games, strap games, money-making machines, wild-cat transportation, social and pyramid clubs, fake auctions, fake schools, fake inheritances, fake accidents, sales and conversion of mortgaged property, switches, including diamonds, envelopes, handkerchiefs, bundles, or letters, "rent rackets" * theft or embezzlement from elders or dependent adults by caretakers Forgery Section The Forgery Section is responsible for investigating fraudulently printed checks; burglary and theft where airline tickets or airline-ticket validators are the primary objects of attack; forged airline tickets; frauds by means of worthless checks, credit cards, or forgeries; burglaries and thefts where blank checks and/or checkwriting equipment are the principal objects of attack; identity theft; fraud cases by means of an ATM card; forged prescriptions; and embezzlements where forgery is an element of the crime. Burglary Special Section The Burglary Special Section is responsible for investigating all vault and safe burglaries except those cases where the safe is removed from the premises; all safe burglaries except those cases where the safe is either removed from the premises or lacks evidence of forced entry; all burglaries where business machines are the primary object of attack and the reported loss is $20,000 or more; all burglaries or thefts where fine art is the primary object of attack, including, but not limited to, paintings, drawings, sculptures, statuary, and other art objects; hotel room burglaries and hotel room thefts committed in major hotels, not including motels, residential hotels, or transient rooming house-type hotels; telephone booth burglaries and thefts committed by professional phone booth burglars using, but not limited to, wheel pullers, lock picks, keys, or other similar tools; and any burglary or theft case at the direction of the Chief of Detectives, or initiated by the Section. If any of these crimes involve other crimes of greater severity (e.g., murder, rape, or robbery), the investigative unit responsible for the most serious offense shall assume responsibility for the entire investigation and shall notify the Commercial Crimes Division. In addition, the Pawnshop Unit of the Burglary Special Section is responsible for investigating the following businesses and dealers on a citywide basis to ensure compliance with the Police Commission’s permit rules and regulations: antique shop; junk collector; junk dealer; pawnbroker; secondhand books; secondhand general; secondhand jewelry; and swapmeets. Commercial Auto Theft Section The Commercial Auto Theft Section is responsible for investigating stolen trucks (five-ton capacity or larger), and commercial trailers, tractors, and heavy-duty equipment; investigating thefts or hijacks of commercial vehicles engaged in transportation of merchandise when the cargo is the probable object of the theft or hijack; probable stolen vehicles, upon request, by identifying them through the use of their secondary numbers; major professional vehicle theft rings; any vehicle theft case initiated by the Section; and secondhand auto parts dealers to ensure compliance with the Police Commission's permit rules and regulations. Violent Crime Special Section The Violent Crime Special Section is responsible for monitoring all arrests and crime reports including, but not limited to, robbery, burglary, and theft that involves organized South American Theft Groups. These crimes include wholesale jewelry theft, bank distraction theft, organized retail theft, tourist distraction theft, and theft from delivery trucks. Task Force for Regional Auto Theft Prevention (TRAP) The Task Force for Regional Auto Theft Prevention (TRAP) is a multijurisdictional, multi-agency taskforce in which CCD is a principal partner. TRAP personnel investigates and deters vehicle theft and vehicle fraud on a coordinated and cooperative basis. TRAP focuses on combating vehicle theft and vehicle fraud by focusing on organized rings and illegal business operations. Category:LAPD Category:Detective Bureau